Among the conventionally-known working machines are ones which include a gas engine mounted on the machine body, a handle base (hereinafter referred to as “handle column”) extending rearwardly and upwardly from the machine body and a cassette gas canister detachably attached to the handle column, and in which an operating handle is collapsably attached to the handle column. One example of such working machines is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-11-170876 (JP 11-170876 A).
In the gas-engine-mounted working machine disclosed in JP 11-170876 A, the gas engine can be driven by fuel gas supplied from the cassette gas canister. By the operating handle being collapsed (i.e., retracted into a collapsed position) as necessary, the disclosed gas-engine-mounted working machine can be stored into a relatively small storage space.
The gas-engine-mounted working machine disclosed in JP 11-170876 A is constructed to allow the operating handle to be retracted into the collapsed position with the cassette gas canister kept attached to the handle column. Therefore, when the gas-engine-mounted working machine is to be stored into a storage space with the operating handle retracted to the collapsed position, it might be inadvertently stored without the cassette gas canister being detached from the handle column. There has also been known a gas-engine-mounted working machine constructed in such a manner that it can be loaded into a trunk of a vehicle or the like for transportation with the operating handle retracted to a collapsed position. Such a gas-engine-mounted working machine too might be inadvertently loaded into a trunk of a vehicle or the like without the cassette gas canister being detached from the handle column.